Yellow as sunshine, purple as the night;
Flowers of remembrance, ever fondly sung
By all the chiefest of the sons of light;
And if in recollection lives regret
For wasted days, and dreams that were not true,
I tell thee that the pansy "freaked withjet"
Is stil the heart's-ease that the poets knew.
Take all the sweetness of a gift unsought,
And for the pansies send me back a thought.
Sarah Doudney
Pansy is an English way of saying the French word "pensee" which means thought. People used to send these flowers for their neaest and dearestto remember them by.
This little flower with the smiling face was said to be a love potion, and was the cause of Titania falling in love with an ass in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Known to children and country folk by these affectionate names: Johnny-jump-up, Love-in-idleness, Two-faces-under-the -sun, Face-and-hood, Tickle-my-fancy, the pansy was also called Herb Trinity, because there are often three colors in the one flower, reminding one of the Holy Trinity.
But perhaps best known of all the names is Heartease. Many believed that carrying the pansy about with you would ensure the love of your sweetheart. Thus engaged couples would present their partners with portraits of themselves surrounded by garlands of pansies.
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